Today in Supreme Court History: February 25, 1841

2/25/1841: Justice Phillip Barbour dies.

Justice Phillip Barbour

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[John F. Carr]

Today the Supreme Court ruled in GEO Group v. Menocal, that petitioner was not immune from suit over forced labor in ICE detention facilities. The District Court denied a defense motion for summary judgment, ruling that ICE did not require the facility to force detainees to work for a dollar a day. GEO claimed a right to interlocutory appeal. The 10th Circuit and now the Supreme Court held that if the court was wrong, the error could be corrected on appeal after a final judgment.

The case was filed in 2014 and can now go to trial. Four years were spent deciding the immunity question. Justice could benefit from a rule that decisions on immunity from suit can only be appealed by leave of court.

Unlike prisons, detention facilities do not have the benefit of the constitutional authorization of forced labor as punishment. (The facility in question is in Colorado, which no longer allows forced prison labor.) They can benefit from exemption from minimum wage, if authorized by law. How little pay turns work into involuntary servitude as a matter of constiitutional law?

GEO earlier lost a lawsuit over forced labor in the Ninth Circuit.

[John F. Carr]

Also today, former trial judge Justice Jackson upheld a trial judge's order preventing defense counsel from coaching defendant during a break in his testimony. Villarreal v. Texas.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

He had one "l" in his first name.

Barbour was a speaker of the House of Representatives. These forgotten justices often have impressive resumes.

He replaced often forgotten Gabriel Duvall.

He had a short tenure. One notable opinion was New York v. Miln, which upheld a state law requiring all vessels docking in New York City to provide a list of passengers and to post security against the passengers from becoming public charges.

This was in effect a limit on immigration.